How I make use of Photo Fuse in Windows Live Photo Gallery.

During our recent day out in York I wanted to take a photo of a very attractive building, but there were so many people walking in front of this particular building, I simply couldn’t get a clear shot of it. The answer is to take quite a few shots from exactly the same spot so that you can ‘fix’ it and remove all of the people using Photo Fuse in Windows Live Photo Gallery. Of course, the original intention of Photo Fuse was to arrive at a perfect ‘Group’ shot of people, but I find Photo Fuse far more useful when I wish to take a shot of something and I can’t get a clear shot without including people walking past. Here is my step by step ‘how-to’ showing you just how to remove any unwanted portion of your photos and arrive at your perfect shot.

1. Firstly take as many shots as you can of your intended subject, the more the merrier, and make sure each shot is taken from the same spot. (see my photos of the building below.)

Notice that in each of my shots there are different people walking by in front of the building. By using the Photo Fuse feature in Windows Live Photo Gallery, I’m going to remove them all so that I eventually end up with my desired photo of just the building.

2. After importing the photos into Windows Live Photo Gallery, highlight the photos that you intend to fix using Photo Fuse, and then click on Create in the ribbon interface and then choose Photo Fuse.

4. Next, your photo shot will be shown in the Photo Fuse window, and inside the photo will be a square of dots that you can move around the photo. At the right hand side of the square, you will see a small window containing a scrollable collection of the same area from each of your photos in question, in my case four. You are asked which one of these you like best. As I need to get rid of all the people in front of the building, I will need to choose from the selection, the one with no one present.

5. Now move the square of dots around your photo by clicking on it and holding down the left hand mouse button. I need to move mine over the first set of people in the picture. You can enlarge the square by clicking on each dot and dragging it sideways by holding down the mouse button until the dotted square surrounds the area you wish to change. I shall make my square cover the two people holding hands.

6. Now all I need to do is choose one of the corresponding areas from the ‘Which do you like best?’ pane, so I need to choose the one with no person in it. Click on your choice from the pane to select it.

Like magic the couple holding hands have disappeared! Next I need to move onto the couple with the blue t-shirt on.

7. Continue in the same way with all areas of your photo that you wish to change. Simply move your dotted square over the area in question, making sure it covers the entire area that you wish to change, select one of the other views of that area, click on it to select it and your photo will change to your choice.

In this how-to, I only have the far set of people to eradicate now. So I’ll place my square over them, making sure it covers them completely, choose the version from my other shots from the sidebar window that contains no person at all and voila! I now have my perfect shot!

14 Responses to How I make use of Photo Fuse in Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Pen, you know I’ve always tried to help others use Windows Live. It’s why I’m a Windows Live MVP because of my how-to’s in my blog posts. I try to keep my instructions as simple as possible so that I help those who are new to computing. Thanks for the comment.

Well if anything like this happens again, such as taking a pic of a statue and folks are walking past all the time, you can take tons of shots of it safe in the knowledge that WLPG and the Photo Fuse feature can sort it all out for you!

Great demo and explanation, TG. I’ve found this features works a lot better in Microsoft’s commercials than it does in real life. If you don’t have a tripod, it’s hard to get exactly the same camera in multiple source shots and PhotoFuse can only compensate so much…

Why Greg? I manage it time and time again with my little pocket camera, no problem! Photo Fuse does allow some lee way as well. This is how I use Photo Fuse, to get rid of objects or people that I didn’t want in the shot. Thanks for your comment.

I came by to check this out last week and did not comment. Sorry about that but I did not know I had this tool in my Live Photo Gallery…wow!!! I played with it and had some fun for my FB photos.
I enjoy your explainations they are so simple for me to follow. Were you a teacher in another life? You are so good at it ;)
Thanks,
Rx

No I was and never have been a teacher Raven, but I have been a trainer where I used to work, and had to show others how to do the job. I was sent on a course where I learned ‘task analysis’ which breaks down into very small steps every task that you do so that a) you don’t miss any step when showing it to others and b) others can easily learn that task.

You have to highlight the chosen pics and make sure when you took them that they are of exactly the same subject (don’t move the camera, just continue snapping away, about four or five shots should do it.)

I know this is older page, but am trying to fuse 2 family photos that were taken moments after each other, but i get an error that they cannot be aligned and to chose 2 pictures with similar lighting, distance, etc. Except for an arm placement, i am not sure they could be much more similar. Any advice?